An introduction to grooming at an early age is very important for your pet’s happy grooming life.

Puppies

We recommend puppies are groomed 2 weeks after their second vaccination, or on Vet’s Vaccination recommendation.

An introduction to grooming for a puppy includes face trimming, pad and sanitary clipping, a warm bath and blow dry on low setting, brush and combing, check of your current tools, and nail clipping.

As an option, we can also do a full haircut for their first grooming but dogs generally take better to a gentle introduction at a very early age.

We still recommend you do twice weekly brushing/combing in between. The best way to do this is on a high surface with someone distracting/holding the front end, or a filled kong to keep the puppy distracted. The feeling of combing and brushing can be quite strange for puppies and they may bite as they teeth. Please avoid letting your dog bite your fingers and the brush as this can teach a negative learned behaviour.

Regular 3-4 weekly grooming (every second is a full groom) will help your dog become an angel on the grooming table for you and your groomer. If your pet becomes naughty or stressed at all, we are open to weekly free grooming desensitisation lessons for some dogs (time and behaviour permitting, bookings essential). We only take puppies on a 3-4 weekly schedule, as we believe this is essential for their grooming life.  Sorry, we do not take large or extra-large breeds for clipping. 

 

All puppies go through a coat change at 6-14 months. During this stage, the coat will be harder to maintain, so daily brushing sessions are best.

That super soft, fluffy, easy-care puppy coat will transition into the adult coat around that age, becoming high maintenance (at least in the short term). The thinner puppy coat is being replaced by the thicker adult coat, and coat texture and colour may change too. It may become less or curlier, the coat colour may darken or lighten, and the rate of shedding may change. Haircuts at this age can look uneven due to the part curly part soft straight coat with some breeds and cross breeds. Unfortunately, this change is also when the coat will seem to suddenly become extremely prone to knots and mats, and daily brushing is highly recommended during the change. This is why we recommend regular puppy tidy-ups until the adult coat is fully formed. If not kept on top of, a pup’s first visit to the groomer may result in the coat having to be cut very short to remove the mats.
Using a pin brush or slicker brush, help brush out that stuck puppy coat to prevent knots from forming. Follow with a comb. If not removed promptly while forming, knots can turn into mats that sit against the skin and cause serious health concerns, from discomfort to nasty skin infections. Make sure to brush right down to the skin, brushing section by section, swapping to a slicker brush or wide comb when you find a tangle or knot (a detangler spray such as secret weapon, is excellent for reducing discomfort when removing knots and reducing static while brushing). Spend extra time on friction areas including behind the ears, paws, armpits, ankles, base of the tail, and around the neck, which tend to be the most knot-prone areas.

All Dogs shed! Some just shed into their coat, causing knots if not brushed (why do you get hair in the brush if they don’t shed?)

Watch our webinar with Colleen of Manners n More Training for our recommendations for maintenance tools. See Video here

Puppy Pricing:

Book your puppy in for his/her first introductory session now! Limited availability. Please note we only take puppies on a 3-4 weekly schedule.

Kitten Grooming

We recommend kittens have their first bath and blow-dry under 6 months of age. We give discounts to kittens that have their first grooming before 6 months of age as we think it is very important.

Kitten grooming can include nail clipping, nail caps, sanitary shaves, or bath and brushing.

 

A cat can take up to 2 years to get their full shedding coat and go through coat changes, so please don’t think your kitten’s coat will stay easy to maintain.

Cats are born with soft, downy fur, and as they move out of the newborn phase their coat grows with them. In most breeds and types of cats, the “kitten coat” is shorter, softer, and less glossy than the fur they will wear as an adult. Sometime between the age of 6 and 12 months, as the kitten reaches adolescence, he will begin to shed his baby fur, and the lovely coat he will wear for his adult years develops. Before this time, cat owners will have noticed very little shedding. But during this time of transition, all that changes.

Like all mammals, cats have hair. That hair grows from follicles located in the skin. Cats have what are known as compound follicles, which means that as many as 20 hairs can grow from each follicle. By comparison, human follicles grow only one lonely hair each. As the kitten coat begins to pull away from the follicle to make room for the adult coat, suddenly you may find tumbleweeds of hair under the sofa and clumps on your best shirt.

Kittens are very noise sensitive and quite jumpy, so around 4-6 months is ideal. We have you stay for your kitten’s first grooming so no need to worry about what is happening to your kitty.

Kittens should have 6-12 weekly baths and brushes, especially if longhair and high maintenance such as Persians, Maine Coons, Ragdolls, and British Longhair.

 

 

 

Book your kitten grooming introduction now